When all was said and done in the 2010 World Series, Colombian native Edgar Renteria was chosen as the 2010 World Series MVP. Renteria batted .412 for the series (7 for 17) with two homers and six RBI. Couple his performance with his 1997 World Series heroics of delivering the winning hit for the Florida Marlins in the 11th inning against Cleveland Indians pitcher Charles Nagy and you have Renteria joining rarefied air. Only four players in the history of the major leagues have ever had two World Series winning hits. The other three are Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio. To further illustrate how impressive his performance was this series, Renteria no three RBI games during the regular season and had TWO in the World Series. Renteria is also the fifth shortstop to win the World Series MVP (Bucky Dent 1978, Alan Trammell 1984, Derek Jeter 2000, David Eckstein 2006)
Renteria also joins a select few of Latinos to win the World Series MVP award. Renteria joins the following fraternity:
1971 Roberto Clemente
1973 Reggie Jackson
1977 Reggie Jackson
1981 Pedro Guerrero (w/Steve Garvey and Ron Cey)
1990 Jose Rijo
1997 Livan Hernandez
1999 Mariano Rivera
2004 Manny Ramirez
2007 Mike Lowell
In total, there have been nine latinos to win the award. There have been three Dominicans (Guerrero, Rijo, Ramirez), three Puerto Ricans (Clemente, Jackson, Lowell), one Cuban (Hernandez), one Panamanian (Rivera) and one Colombian (Renteria).
*** AUTHOR'S NOTE: For those of you who wonder why I include Reggie Jackson in this list, you need to visit one of my earliest posts 1st Latino Baseball Superstar where I quote Reggie Jackson as saying:
"They (Baseball) have no right to pass judgment on what I claim about my Latin heritage," said Jackson, whose middle name is Martinez. "I just don't run my mouth off about it."
*** AUTHOR'S NOTE: I originally posted that Mike Lowell was Cuban when in fact he was born in Puerto Rico to Cuban parents who were of Irish and Spanish ancestry. Thanks to Fernando Ramos for the heads up.
So there you go folks. Latinos keep placing their mark on the beautiful game of Baseball that we all love. Muchas gracias hermanos. Sigue pa'lante.
FH
For Further Reading:
- Click Here for Anthony Castrovince's article Edgar Rings-eria! Series MVP is clutch again from MLB.com dated November 2, 2010
- Click Here for Carl Bialik's article Renteria: An Unlikely World Series MVP from WSJ.com dated November 3, 2010 for a more Sabermetric view on Renteria's MVP accomplishment
- Click Here for Richard Sandomir's article Who's a Latino Baseball Superstar from NYTimes.com dated August 26, 2005 for Reggie Jackson's comments on his Latino Heritage
Nice piece. Going to Fenway Opener tomorrow. Thanks for posting. Btw, Mike Lowell is Puerto Rican I think, not Cuban.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct Fernando. Lowell was born in Puerto Rico to parents who were born in Cuba, and are of Irish and Spanish ancestry. He has always identified as being Puerto Rican. Will edit that right now. Thanks.
ReplyDelete